and blocked the road that must be traveled to seek an audience with the son of Heaven by toppling scores of castles by in vading deep into (the territory of Slla). If Your Majesty does not lend the military of the son of Heaven in order to subjugate the power of the willainous Backe, our subjects will all be taken pri oner. Then we will not be able to send tributes, nor will we be able to report on state affairs' Emperor Taizong strongly agreed with his opinion and authorized the dispatch of troops. "Annals of Silla, 2 year of the reign of King Jindeok, Three Kinefamo Backie and Silla were old foes. Silla reported to Tang that it could not send tribute because the road to Tang was blocked by Backie, thereby scheming to make mischief between Tang and Baekje. In addition, Kim Chun-chu notified Tang of Silla's intention of changing its ritual clothes to those of China and of sending his son King Mun to 'serve" Emperor Taizong. To "serve" here means a type of diplo matic hostage wherein a prince or a member of the royal family of a foreign nation is sent to guard the Son of Heaven as a close atten dant; this greatly influenced Tang's foreign policy. This foreign policy, which continued thereafter, was a manifestation of Silla's continued alliance with Tang China. Goguryeo was an old foe of Tang since Sui dynasty, and from langs point of view, overcoming Baekje by forming an alliance with Silla would be equivalent to Goguryeo being attacked from the north by Tang and from the south by a united Silla-Tang army. As promised, Emperor Gaozong (or Kao Tsung) of Tang China dispatched troops to Baekje in 660 after Emperor Taizong passed away. It is probable that Empress Wu Zetian , who was a brave female fighter and the favorite of the emperor, made the ultimate decision for the sickly and weak willed Emperor Gaozong. Silla realized the unifica tion of the Korean peninsula by overcoming Baekje first and Goguryeo later based on Kim Chun-chu's foreign policy of being friendly with distant kingdoms and attacking neighboring kingdoms.